Fotógrafo Albert Levy. Fotografía antigua Nueva York. Twin Houses
En esta foto se recoge un detalle de la esquina de la fachada de las Twin Houses de Nueva York. Construida por el magnate William H. Vanderbilt para si mismo y sus dos hijas, apenas la habitó pues falleció dos años despues de su terminación.
Albert Levy recogió con su cámara las mejores casas que había en la costa Oeste de USA. La selección la realiza por la calidad de sus arquitectos y, por su supuesto, la importancia de sus dueños habitualmente los nuevos millonarios americanos.
Vista general de ambos edificios.
Albert Levy realizó 36 series de fotografias de arquitectura tituladas:
"Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture" formada por más de 600 fotos
Posteriormente, a su vuelta a Europa ,en 1886, realizó una selección de las mejores publicando la serie de tres álbumes titulada "L' Architecture Americaine" con un total de 120 fotos. Esta foto pertenece al segundo album titulado "Habitations Urbaines"
El punto de vista del fotógrafo es mas próximo a la casa para apreciar el detalle asi como mas elevado
............Trained in his
native Germany, Gustave Herter first rose to prominence as a cabinet
maker in New York City. Soon after being joined by his younger brother
Christian in 1864, the renamed firm, "Herter Brothers", began to create
entire decorative schemes of astonishing opulence for the wealthiest
families in America.
The Herter Brothers became the best-known interior furnishings firm in New York during the second half of the nineteenth century. German-born and trained, Gustave (1830-1898) and Christian Herter (1840-1883) opened their New York business in 1865. The Herter Brothers firm established its reputation for exquisite marquetry (decorative inlay) by furnishing the mansions of the New York elite in the popular Renaissance Revival style. Following the Civil War, several revival styles became fashionable in furniture design. The Renaissance Revival style was based loosely on the architecture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy, and often incorporated Greek, Moorish, Egyptian, and other historical motifs.
Their client list reads like a Who’s Who of Gilded Age millionaires: Vanderbilt, Morgan, and Gould of New York; Crocker, Stanford, and Huntington of San Francisco; Potter Palmer of Chicago.....
The Herter Brothers became the best-known interior furnishings firm in New York during the second half of the nineteenth century. German-born and trained, Gustave (1830-1898) and Christian Herter (1840-1883) opened their New York business in 1865. The Herter Brothers firm established its reputation for exquisite marquetry (decorative inlay) by furnishing the mansions of the New York elite in the popular Renaissance Revival style. Following the Civil War, several revival styles became fashionable in furniture design. The Renaissance Revival style was based loosely on the architecture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy, and often incorporated Greek, Moorish, Egyptian, and other historical motifs.
Their client list reads like a Who’s Who of Gilded Age millionaires: Vanderbilt, Morgan, and Gould of New York; Crocker, Stanford, and Huntington of San Francisco; Potter Palmer of Chicago.....
Esta casa la construyeron los arquitectos Charles B. Atwood y John B. Snook (Herther Brothers)
Twin Houses. Las casas gemelas Nueva York
.....W.H. Vanderbilt purchased the block between 51st and 52nd Streets in 1879, and the brownstones he built there were divided by an atrium that separated his residence from that of his two sons-in-law, Elliot F. Shepard and William D. Sloane. The twin houses came to be known as the “Vanderbilt Twins” or the “Triple Palace,” because the northern house was a double unit. W.H. Vanderbilt’s residence, (which he hoped would outshine Alexander T. Stewart’s extravagant, white marble palazzo on 34th Street,) showcased his art collection, which he opened to public viewing on Thursdays via invitation..........
- Ir a ver el album completo
- Ir a ver más imágenes de Levy en el Art Institute of Chicago (HALIC)
- Libro: "American Victorian Architecture" por Arnold Lewis. (Dover publications, 1975)
- Web de Vanderbilt Houses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanderbilt_houses
- Wikipedia Charles B. Atwwod http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_B._Atwood
- Albert Levy fue un fotógrafo francés que desarrolló gran parte de su labor en Estados Unidos y tuvo los siguientes estudios
He had the following studies in New York- A study in 77 University Place, NY in 1870-1878 (23)
- A study in 4 Bond Street, NY in 1880 (2)- A study in 34 1/2 Pine Street, NY in 1887 (3).
- At the same time he also had a study in France, 19 rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, Paris (3).
- The Bibliothèque Nacionale de France also has another reference in 1901: "22 janvier 1901, A. Lévy, 4 av. Pinel, Asnières" (3)
He is also referenced as bookseller (2). - Su obra principal fue:
Serie de albumes de fotos,normalmente de 36 o 40 albúminas, que recogen diferentes mansiones de la costa este americana. Como en este caso destacar que las casas estan diseñadas por los grandes arquitectos del momento y, frecuentemente, pertenecen a las mayores fortunas de la época.
Links
Catalogue de photographies d'architecture européenne et américaine, ancienne et moderne. .. / Albert Lévy
Source: gallica.bnf.fr